What is with the popularity of abseiling as a means of descent? When I was still bothering with ropes, we would always take a walk/scramble/downclimb over an abseil if available? Here you are totally reliant on the ropes and anchors rather than as a safety net otherwise...

On 5/04/2012 jezza wrote:>Half ropes and simul-rapping beats walking down. The difference between>walking and rapping (to get back to your stuff at the bottom) would be>much greater for Tiger than Watchtower.

On 5/04/2012 dalai wrote:>What is with the popularity of abseiling as a means of descent? When I>was still bothering with ropes, we would always take a walk/scramble/downclimb>over an abseil if available? Here you are totally reliant on the ropes>and anchors rather than as a safety net otherwise...
I prefer abseil descents, especially at Arapiles, to reduce erosion pressures in descent gullies. It's true that it's almost always faster to walk down at Arapiles (except for the Dunes descent) than to do 2 abseils but if I can save carrying shoes up the route and not damage the descent gully, I'm happy to do the abseil.
And single-abseil descents that save the descent gully and are convenient - I'm in favour. Convenience is not a dirty word - I even use a remote control for the TV these days (edit: purely to reduce wear-and-tear on the carpet ;) ).

Found an abseil route down from Flinders Lane last week. Seems quite unused due to not being in the guidebook (plenty of moss and vegetation.) I couldn't find any info about it online.

It descends near the vegetated gully that the second pitch of Kestrel leads to.

Bolts are hard to spot from above, being on a little ledge below the main terrace of Flinders Lane.

Without knowing exactly where skylark direct goes (haven't climbed it) I would estimate about 5m left (climbers left) of that route.

There are 4 stations.
Station 1 - at Flinders lane.
Station 2 - appears that these bolts were installed at a different time as they are equipped with different gear. Only a small ledge. From here it is a rope stretching 60m to the ground.
Station 3 - Near the bottom of the Gully, above some bushes.
Station 4 - Existing bolts above Is Vanya a Dog. A little off to the left (climbers left.)

Not sure about the distances between each. Certainly doable with a single 60m rope (in 4 sections) and I suspect maybe even with a single 50m rope.

On 23/12/2012 Justcameron wrote:>Found an abseil route down from Flinders Lane last week. Seems quite unused>due to not being in the guidebook (plenty of moss and vegetation.) I couldn't>find any info about it online.

...>Not sure about the distances between each. Certainly doable with a single>60m rope (in 4 sections) and I suspect maybe even with a single 50m rope.
Can't imagine why anyone would want to do a 4-rap descent of Tiger Wall as opposed to going down Alis. Also, if it's a "rope-stretching 60m to the ground" from station 2 then it's going to be pretty dodgy with a single rope on at least 1 of the next 2 raps. It's always good to have a few spare metres of rope for intermediate stations.

On 24/12/2012 kieranl wrote:>On 23/12/2012 Justcameron wrote:>>Found an abseil route down from Flinders Lane last week. Seems quite>unused>>due to not being in the guidebook (plenty of moss and vegetation.) I>couldn't>>find any info about it online.>>...>>Not sure about the distances between each. Certainly doable with a single>>60m rope (in 4 sections) and I suspect maybe even with a single 50m rope.>Can't imagine why anyone would want to do a 4-rap descent of Tiger Wall>as opposed to going down Alis. Also, if it's a "rope-stretching 60m to>the ground" from station 2 then it's going to be pretty dodgy with a single>rope on at least 1 of the next 2 raps. It's always good to have a few spare>metres of rope for intermediate stations.

I think you misunderstood - there are three raps from the 2nd station which is 3 raps from the ground.

I agree though, it would be better to just go down Ali's. Either you're new and Ali's is still a fun novelty or you're experienced and Ali's would be quicker